LCNHA feasibility study cover draft02 - Archaeology...

chapter 3heritage themes andrelated resources

DEVELOPMENT OF THEHERITAGE THEMES

The seven heritage themes in thischapter emerged directly from publicinput. During Meeting Two of theseries of four Working Group meetingsdescribed in Chapter 1, participantswere divided into small groups andgiven large maps of the Little Coloradowatershed. They were then asked aseries of four questions designed toelicit responses that would describe theheritage of the region.

If you had a two-week dreamvacation in the Little ColoradoRiver watershed, where would yougo?

If you had to describe this area tosomeone who had never been here,what would you say?

When friends or family come tovisit, where do you take them?

If “something” were to leave thisarea forever, what would you missmost?

Participants drew or wrote theirresponses on the maps. In most cases,the maps were completely coveredwith sites, references to historical

events, notes about the currentdiversity of cultures found in thewatershed, and lists of activities relatedto outdoor recreation or local festivals.Continuing in their small groups,participants reviewed all of the itemsplaced on the maps and devisedbetween four and six themes thatwould capture all of the items. Eachsmall group then reported its themes tothe whole group. The whole group thenworked all of themes suggested by eachsmaller group into one set of betweenfour and six themes. This process tookplace at five meetings in five differentlocations across the watershed andresulted in a total of 25 heritage themesbeing suggested. Many of the themesfrom a Working Group in one meetinglocation were virtually the same asthemes suggested by one or moreWorking Groups in other meetinglocations, thus giving evidence thatparticular themes indeed identifiedprevalent, consistent, and over-archingcharacteristics of the region. TheHeritage Programs Coordinatorreviewed all 25 suggestions and foundseven common themes that united themost frequently suggested themes bythe Working Groups. Those sevenunifying themes became the seven

Draft: 8 April 2008

Chapter 3: Heritage Themes and Related Resources

Draft: 8 April 2008

heritage themes described in thischapter:

Sacred and Enchanted Landscapes Trails, Roads, and Rails of the West Native Nations Living from the Land Archaeology Expressions of Art and Life Outdoor Recreation

After establishing the seven heritagethemes, the next round of WorkingGroup meetings focused on identifyingresources within the watershed thatreflected, interpreted, or embodied oneor more themes. The seven themes

were written on large pieces of paperand participants wrote down the nameof the resource (a site, event,organization, business, etc.) and itsgeneral location on the paper of theparticular theme the resource fit.Participants were asked to identifyresources that related to tourism aswell as those that served localcommunities, although often a singleresource fulfilled both functions.Often, too, a single resource reflectedmore than one theme. The relatedresources sections that appear in eachheritage theme chapter are a directresult of data generated during theseWorking Group meetings.

Page 39

SUMMARY OF THEME

Oral histories, historic accounts, andarchaeobotanical evidence indicate thatseveral cultures have farmed, practicedselective forestry, and mined in theLittle Colorado River Valleycontinuously for at least 4,100 years.The food production begun fourmillennia ago with annual field cropsand turkeys later diversified asperennial crops such as agaves andfruit trees were introduced, andlivestock management was undertaken.

Within this watershed, it is stillpossible to see how Native Americancultivators integrated seedstocks, treeplantings and water managementpractices from Mesoamerica, Spain,North Africa and the Middle East tosuccessfully produce an abundance offoodstuffs on a limited water budget.These adapted seeds, trees and farmingpractices kept most Hopi, Tewa, Zuni

and Navajocommunities foodself-sufficient eventhrough the 1930sDust Bowl, whenother Westernfarmers andranchers went belly-up with thedrought. Since then,however, acreagesplanted to nativecrops have

continued to shrink with out-migration,springwater depletion, and economicchange, and the number of native cropvarieties still grown by contemporaryfarmers on reservations is less than halfof what it was a century ago.Nevertheless, there are community-

based education projects on nearly allthe reservations in the watershed thatare working to pass traditionalagricultural knowledge on to the nextgeneration, as well as effort to restoreirrigation systems, orchards, gardens,fields and native crops. Some of thesehave been paired with cultural andagricultural tourism to provide newincome streams for local residentsbased on the production, marketingand interpretation of place-basedheritage foods.

Both ranching and sheepherding areactivities that cross-cut all the culturesof the Southwest. Begun with theintroduction of criollo (corriente) cattleand churro sheep in the 1590s, theselivestock traditions retain theirSpanish, Basque, Moorish, and Arabianroots but have been shaped andtransformed by Native Americans andlater by Northern European- and Afro-American cowboys. Thus, stockmentraditions provide a basis for exploringboth commonality and sharing oftraditions but also the influence ofdifferences of lifestyles and beliefs. TheLittle Colorado contains examples ofmany combinations of managing cattle,sheep, goats, (and more recently),llamas and alpacas: cultural variety,historical variety, breed variety, varietyof size of operation, and variety ininnovations of relevance for the future.

Logging and mining also playedsignificant roles in the Little Coloradoregion. The economic and socialimpacts of the industries shaped thedevelopment of many localcommunities and were part of a largerera of expansion the nation as a wholeexperienced in the decades preceding

Theme 3Theme 3Theme 3Theme 3Theme 3Living from the LandLiving from the LandLiving from the LandLiving from the LandLiving from the Land

Page 75

A garden display at the Ramah Farmers’ Marketmaking use of products strongly associated with theregion.


Draft: 8 April 2008

[Theme 3: Living from the Land]


Draft: 8 April 2008

and succeeding the turn of the lastcentury.

DESCRIPTION OF THEME

Agricultural Antiquity, Continuityand Change

Until the last quarter century, theoldest known agricultural remains inthe co-terminous United States weresaid to be from Bat Cave, nearMagdalena, New Mexico, not too farsoutheast of the proposed LittleColorado River National HeritageArea. However, recent archeobotanicalanalyses of crop remains found nearZuni, in Canyon de Chelly, and onBlack Mesa near the Hopi pueblos nowsuggest that corn and squash weregrown on the Colorado Plateau—andwithin the Little Colorado Riverwatershed—for upwards of 4,100years. These radiocarbon dates on cropremains rival those recently reportedfrom the Santa Cruz River Valley insouthern Arizona.

Impressively, the Little Colorado RiverValley exhibits the continued use ofsome of the very same field complexesfrom which these crop remains werepresumably derived. Some fields nearZuni, New Mexico and Second Mesa,Arizona are still being cultivated—without any evident depletion of soilfertility nor soil microbial diversity—atsites described by the very firstEuropean visitors to these areas.Whereas dry farming and floodwaterfaming have all but died in other partsof Arizona and the Southwest, theyhave persisted in the Little ColoradoRiver Valley despite a recent decade ofsevere drought. This watershed is oneof the few watersheds in the AmericanWest where farming traditions can beexperienced that predate Europeansettlement.

At the same time, Mexican andEuropean crop introductions anddiversified water managementpractices derived from Mesoamerica,Spain, North Africa, and the MiddleEast offer unprecedented opportunitiesto interpret both continuity and changein agrarian economies, rather thanassuming that they have remainedstatic or rigid. The contrast of fertilefloodwater fields and spring-fedgardens or orchards with thesurrounding sand plains, redrockcanyon walls and barren slickrock haveintrigued millions of tourists for wellover a century, and now there isrenewed capacity and interest amongindigenous communities in interpretingas well as safeguarding these agrarianlandscapes.

Food and Farming Diversity inArid Landscapes

Nowhere else in the United States canone see within a few hours drive anequivalent diversity of farmingstrategies still practiced by NativeAmericans, Hispanic Americans andAnglo (in particular, Mormon)Americans, nor sample in nearbyfestivals, farmers markets, andrestaurants such a diversity ofdistinctive traditional foods. One canview sand dunes that have been dry-farmed for centuries along theroadsides leading to Hopi villages, orfloodwater-supplemented orchardsand cornfields along washes near Zuniand Navajo settlements. Spring-fedterrace gardens have been recentlyrenovated at Bacavi and Wepo by Hopiand Tewa youth, while Navajo-Churrosheep butchering, shearing, woolspinning and weaving are beingrevived among Navajo and Hispanicsettlements. From thin, delicate Hopipiki waferbreads to chunky, smokyNavajo kneal-down breads, a

Page 76[Theme 3: Living from the Land]

distinctive set of native food productsotherwise unfamiliar to outsiders canbe purchased at roadside stands, fleamarkets, farmers markets and locally-owned restaurants. Many of theseprepared foodstuffs are homemadefrom heirloom grains, vegetables andfruits, or heritage breeds of meats (likeNavajo-Churro mutton) nowcollectively called place-based heritage

foods. Many of the indigenous andHispanic communities of the region arenow reviving such foods as part oftheir efforts towards seed sovereigntyand food self-sufficiency.

In fact, the Little Colorado RiverValley—as part of the Colorado Plateauas a whole—harbors a greater diversityof native and traditional crop varieties

Scientific Name Common Name At

Hopi/Tewa

At Navajo-

Apache

Zuni and

Pueblos

Amaranthus cruentus Red amaranth 1 - -

Amaranthus hypochondriacus

Grain amaranth - - 1

Capsicum annuum

Chile pepper 2+ 2+ 2+

Canavalia ensiformis Jackbean 1 - -

Cucurbita argyrosperma Cushaw Squash

1 1 3

Cucurbita maxima Hubbard squash 2 2 1

Cucurbita moschata Big cheese pumpkin

1? - -

Cucurbita pepo Acorn squash, etc

5 3 5

Gossypium hirsutum Cotton 1 - 1

Helianthus annuus Sunflower 1 1 -

Helianthus tuberosus Sunchoke 1 - -

Lagenaria siceraria Bottlegourd 4 1 2

Monarda menthaefolia Nanakopsi bushmint

1 - -

Nicotiana attenuata Pueblo tobacco 1 1 1

Nicotiana rustica Turkish Tobacco

1 - -

Nicotiana tabacum Common tobacco 1 1 1

Opuntia viridiflora Cholla cactus - - 1

Physalis philadelphica Husk tomato - - 1

Proboscidea parviflora Devil’s claw 2 - 1

Phaseolus acutifolius Tepary bean 2 1 2

Phaseolus coccineus Runner bean 2 - -

Phaseolus lunatus Lima bean 4 - -

Phaseolus vulgaris Common bean 10 6 4

Zea mays Corn/maize 15 11 5

Meleagris gallopavo Turkey 1 1 -

TOTAL 128 60 36 32

Table 3.1. Folk varieties of Native American crops and livestock, Little Colorado. (The numbersin this table refer to varieties of each species that have been documented to date.)

Chapter 3: Heritage Themes and Related Resources Page 77

Draft: 8 April 2008


than any other equivalent area north ofthe Tropic of Cancer. It is not merely aregion with deep agricultural traditionsfeaturing corn, beans and squash; grainamaranths, sunflowers, tobaccos,gourds, greens, fruits (such aswolfberries) and fibers (such as cotton)have persisted since prehistoric times.In addition, historically introducedcrops such as peaches, almonds, pears,plums, apples, apricots, Jerusalemartichokes, chiles, tomatoes, tomatillos,melons, and watermelons stillproliferate. The number of distinctive

varieties of crops still grown in Nativeand Hispanic communities of thiswatershed centuries after theirintroduction is truly astounding. At thesame time, perhaps as much as halfof them have been lost since the 1930s,making current efforts for theirconservation, interpretation, andrevival by local communities criticallyimportant. The proposed designationof this heritage area—in a way thatvalidates and supports these agrariantraditions—may help save thisimperiled diversity.

Scientific Name Common Name Hispanic/Basque Anglo/Mormon

Native/

Indigenous

Allium cepa Onion X X X

Allium sativum Garlic X X X

Citrullus lanatus Watermelon X X X

Cucumis melo Melon X X X

Cydonia oblonga Quince X X -

Lens culinaris Lentil X X X

Malus domesica Apple X X X

Pisum sativum Pea X X -

Prunus armenica Apricot X X X

Prunus domestica Plum X X X

Prunus persica Peach X X X

Pryrus communis Pear X X X

Sorgum bicolor Sorghum X X X

Triticum aestivum Wheat X X -

Vitis vinifera Grape X X -

Vicia faba Fava bean X X -

LIVESTOCK

Bos bos Cattle X X X

Equus asnus Burro X X X

Equus caballus Horse X X X

Ovis aries Sheep x X X

Ovis cabra Goat X X X

Sus scrofa Pig X X ?

POULTRY

Anas domestica Duck X X -

Anser anser Goose X X -

Gallus domesticus Chicken X X X

Table 3.2. Historically introduced seeds and breeds of the Colorado Plateau.

Chapter 3: Heritage Themes and Related Resources Page 78

Draft: 8 April 2008


Cattle Ranching and Sheepherding

Ranching, though practiced by peopleof virtually every ethnicity in theSouthwest, has its roots with theSpanish and the Moors. Althoughturkeys were prehistorically herdedand used to manage field weeds andpests, the 500 cattle and 5,000 sheepthat walked behind Coronado andEsteban el Morro as they entered intothe watershed in 1540 were the firstdomesticated livestock in the LittleColorado region. Coronado was not arancher, however. He was an explorerand for him the animals were simply afood supply and not the base herd for afuture hacienda. Don Juan de Onate,first governor of what is now NewMexico, is credited as the first to bringchurro sheep and criollo cattle to theregion to establish herds around 1598.The Spanish padres who establishedmissions in indigenous communities allacross northern New Spain usedlivestock raising both to sustainthemselves and to establish a differentdynamic within the communityeconomy. Where cattle, sheep, or goatswere set loose to graze, fields andorchards had to be fenced, and some

wild foods formerly harvested by handwere eaten out by livestock. Livestockraising, of course, is practiced by manycultures throughout the world andthroughout time, but in the AmericanSouthwest it has had, and continues tohave, a distinctly Spanish, Moorish andArabic flavor, rather than a NorthernEuropean one. It appears that adisproportionate number ofAndalusians—including crypto-Arabs,Moors and Jews—were among thosewho settled the northern frontier ofNew Spain in an attempt to escape theSpanish Inquisition, and they broughtalong Arab- and Moor-influencedterms in Spanish for managing horses,irrigation ditches, crops and livestock.The following list is a sampling ofranch terms that show these closeconnections (Table 3.3). Traditionalcowboy clothing and the leatherworkand metalwork of saddles and tack arealso strongly rooted in Spanish custom.

Nevertheless, persistent raids,especially by Apaches and Navajos,kept most non-Natives fromestablishing permanent settlements inthe Little Colorado River Valley andkept what few ranching operations

there were from developing on amajor scale into the early 1870s. Theexception to this situation is DonManuel Antonio Candelaria whosettled with bride and flock of sheepalong a creek at a place that wouldcome to be known as the town ofConcho, Arizona sometime in theearly 1860s (sources differ as to theexact year). As a small boy,Candelaria was taken captive byApaches and raised by them untilhis early adulthood. When hereturned to his family’s town inCubero, New Mexico, about 60 mileseast of the Continental Divide, localsthere did not even recognize him.Candelaria, upon his return to thecreek and grasslands he

Table 3.3. English ranching terms derived fromSpanish (and ultimately Arabic or Moorish*) words.

Spanish English

Alazán* Alice-Ann

Albarda* Albardón

Chaparerras Chaps

Cincha Cinch

Corral Corral

Jaquima* Hackamore

Lazo lasso

Mesteno mustang

Rancho ranch

Reata lariat

Rodear rodeo

Vaquero buckaroo

Xinete* jinete

Chapter 3: Heritage Themes and Related Resources 9

Draft: 8 April 2008



Draft: 8 April 2008

remembered in ArizonaTerritory, asked Apacheleaders for theirpermission to let himsettle there and it wasgranted. The raids thatplagued other non-Native settlementsreportedly never

happened in Concho. Later,Candelaria’s brothers followed him toConcho, as did other Hispanicindividuals, families, and sheep fromNew Mexico. The descendents of theCandelaria brothers became the mostprominent sheep-owning family in theregion, at one time having 50,000 heador more.

The total number of sheep raised by theentire Concho community is estimatedto have reached a height of 100,000head in a range that extended north to

the present-dayPetrified Forest,south to the townof Vernon,Arizona on theedge of theWhiteMountains, andwest toSnowflake. The

success of Concho sheepherders led tothe town establishing the first bank inApache County in 1902.

Following the close of the AmericanCivil War in 1865, the U.S. military was

redirected to fighting NativeAmericans in the West. The military’srepeated campaigns against tribes dideventually result in the cessation ofraids against homesteads and ranchesand the subsequent settling of theregion by non-Natives. One of theearliest known non-Native ranchers inthe region, aside from the settlers atConcho, was James Stinson, who by1873 had a respectable cattle ranch atpresent-day Snowflake. Thirsty sheepand their herders—John Clark, WilliamAshurst, Thomas McMillon, and theDaggs brothers—began arriving in thearea of present-day Flagstaff in 1876when severe drought hit California.John Wood was cattle ranching in theWhite Mountains by 1877.

John Young, son of Brigham Young,noticed the good grasslands aroundpresent-day Flagstaff while cutting tiesfor the advancing railroad. Heestablished the Moroni CattleCompany nine miles north of Flagstaffon behalf of the Mormon Church in1881. Two years later, with thepartnership of eastern investors, hereorganized the business into theArizona Cattle Company. Known as A-1 because of the shape of its brand, thecompany bought 132,000 acres from theland grant of the Atlantic & PacificRailroad and filled it with between14,000 to 16,000 head of cattle.

Two aspects of A-1’s development aresignificant because they reflectcommon occurrences for developingranches all across the West. First of all,A&P’s holdings were checkerboarded,meaning that when the railroad wasgiven the right to develop through theregion, the government divided theland into one-mile by one-mile squaresand awarded every other square, or“section,” to the railroad. Railroadcompanies were eager to sell theirsections after their routes had been

0

Cattle ranching has a longand multicultural historythroughout the watershed.

Top: Sheepherding southto lower and warmer eleva-tions for the winter crossState Route 77 just north ofSnowflake, Arizona. (Photoby Galen Hicks.) Right:Sheepherders gather foran annual conference andsheep show dedicated tothe Navajo-Churro breed.



Draft: 8 April 2008

determined because land sales wereone of the ways they financed theirtypically cash-strapped operations.This is a phenomenon that occurredwherever railroads developed. Thepurchase of 132,000 acres (orapproximately 206 sections) in effectgave A-1 twice that amount of grazingland because the sections were notfenced and, at that time, there was nooversight of the government-ownedsections. The second significant detailof A-1’s history is that the ranchdeveloped with the help of easterncapital. Many industries and theirrelated towns of the non-Native West—railroads, mining, logging, etc.—developed as a result of east coastfinancial investment. Wealthyentrepreneurs in cities such as Boston,Philadelphia, New York, and Chicagowere willing to risk their money, if nottheir comfortable lifestyles, andinvested in fledgling business start-upsin the West. The ranching industry wasno different. With ample land and fewother settlers to pose competition,ranching in the early 1880s could turnconsiderable profits.

The railroad, which was also largelyfunded by eastern interests, completelyconnected the Little Colorado region tothe east and west coasts in 1883 and,like in every other Western town alongany railroad route, changed the entireeconomy of the region profoundly. Thehistories of the railroad, mining,logging, and ranching cannot beseparated. The coming railroad and theneed for ties spurred the loggingindustry. Once the railroad was built,ties were still needed for the inevitablerepairs and improvements, pluslumbermen could now use the railroadto send wood products to markets infar away places. The railroad had asimilar effect on mining. Not only didtrains consume enormous amounts ofcoal and require significant amounts of

metal for tracks, engines, and cars, butthey could transport mining productsto factories or population centers thatwere in need of the product buttypically located far away from themine.

Railroads did not build themselves.Great numbers of men were needed toplan and grade the route, buildbridges, and lay track and all of thesemen needed to eat. Railroad crewsconsumed large amounts of Arizonaand New Mexico beef while working inthe area, and, just as with wood andmining products, once the railroad wascomplete, ranchers could use it to shiplive animals or wool from coast tocoast. Before the railroad came to theLittle Colorado River Valley, wooleither had to be sent by oxcart to thenearest railhead in Trinidad, Colorado(a trip of about 500 miles one way) oralong the Beale Wagon Road to theColorado River where it was loaded onboats that would eventually make theirway around the tip of South America—the Panama Canal would not be builtuntil 1914—and finally to Boston orother eastern markets.

The effect of more efficient railroadtransport was immediate. In 1880, threeyears before the railroad, the number ofsheep raised by non-Natives innorthern Arizona was approximately68,000 head. By 1890, that numberincreased more than nine-fold toapproximately 620,000 head. The effecton cattle ranching was less dramatic,but followed a similar pattern. In 1880,cattle raised in northern Arizona bynon-Natives equaled about 78,000head, but by 1890, that numberincreased to 121,000 head. In all cases,the railroad facilitated access tomarkets and a rise in profits for ruralindustries and rural industries in turnpatronized the railroad and added toits financial success as well.



Draft: 8 April 2008

The famous Hashknife ranch, at onetime the third largest ranch in NorthAmerica, followed a similar pattern ofdevelopment as the A-1 with its use ofeastern investors and purchase ofrailroad lands. Like the A-1, it wasknown by the shape of its brand, whichwas shaped like a kitchen toolchuckwagon cooks used to cut hashand vegetables. Unlike the A-1, it couldactually make use of the railroad at thestart of its operations.

In 1884, Edward Kinsley, a shareholderin the A&P Railroad, persuadedeastern investors to buy one millionacres of checkerboarded land at $.50/acre. Officially titled the Aztec Landand Cattle Company, the companythen spent about another $330,000acquiring 22,000 head of cattle, andwith them the rights to the distinctivebrand, from the Continental CattleCompany in Texas. Suffering from twoyears of drought and resulting lowprices for poor quality animals,Continental was more than happy toaccept the price of $15/head even if itwas half of what they got just a fewyears before. Buying cattle is one thing,moving them to a new ranch is quiteanother. Ranches in Texas were losinghalf or more of their cattle to starvationat the time. Those that were not deadyet were severely weakened and wellon their way. If the Hashknife tried todrive cattle in such condition on footfrom west Texas, across all of NewMexico, to northeast Arizona, mostwould not survive the trip. Most wouldsurvive the trip, however, if theytraveled on the new railroad.

In addition to the drought, thegrasslands in Texas had been severelyovergrazed, producing a dire situationfor ranchers. The grasslands of theHashknife, however, were vast andlush. The ranch was 72 miles east-westby 50 miles north-south. The eastern

boundary was about 12 miles east ofSnowflake; the southern boundarycrossed just north of Show Low. Itextended west a few miles pastWinslow, and the northern boundarywas the railroad itself. The Hashknifebought 1,000,000 acres but effectivelygot the use of 2,000,000 because of thecheckerboarding. The size of its herd,through additional imports andbreeding, grew to 60,000 in just a fewyears and the Hashknife needed morethan 2,500 horses and 100 cowboys totake care of it all. The headquarters ofthe Hashknife were located just southof Joseph City, and the growingrailroad town of Holbrook quicklybecame a major livestock shipping anddistribution center with extensivestockyards, scales, and loading chutes.

People, including other ranchers, werealready living in Hashknife ranchterritory by the mid-1880s. TheMormon settlements had much smallernumbers of livestock as compared tothe Hashknife, but the livestock stillneeded to eat and drink. Thesheepherders of Concho and Flagstaffalso made use of a wide territory tofind suitable summer and winterranges. Hashknife cattle added grazingpressure to the grassland resource itselfand increased tensions betweensheepherders and cattlemen, eventhose not with the Hashknife outfit.

Periodic droughts in other placesprompted additional moves of cattle(not just the Hashknife’s) and sheep tothe Little Colorado region and soon itwas becoming as overstocked as theplaces from which the animals werecoming. Devastation from drought andovergrazing was just a matter of timefor the Little Colorado. For the mostpart, non-Natives were ranching with amarket in mind and usually that was amarket far removed from the ecologicaland climatic realities of the Southwest.



Draft: 8 April 2008

If east or west coast markets paid highprices for beef and wool, LittleColorado ranches, especially thosebacked by eastern investors like theHashknife, tried to fill the demand.

The climate of the Southwest, the newsettlers were learning, is highlyunpredictable and irregular. Toconfront the uncertainty of rain andavailable grass, ranches tried to securetheir livelihood in a variety of ways.The A-1 began developing dams, tanks,and pipelines to springs. The droughtof 1892 prompted many cattle ranchersto begin planting alfalfa for a moresteady supply of feed, to begin sellinganimals at one year of age whenpreviously they had been kept for twoyears or more, and to improve theirstock through breeding. It tookvirtually the same amount of feed andwater to support an animal of inferiorbreeding as it did one of superiorbreeding, yet the animal of superiorbreeding would bring a higher pricedue to its higher quality. Grazingpressure and competition also startedthe practice in the 1880s forsheepherders to take their flocks overthe Mogollon Rim to winter along theSalt and Gila Rivers outside of Phoenix.The annual spring and fall movementsof the sheep became hallmarks of theindustry and communities along theroute. As one historian wrote, “theharbinger of spring in Flagstaff was nota robin’s chirp, but the bleat of aMerino” (Mangum 2002b:68). Theseasonal migration continues to thisday, albeit on a much smaller scale.Still, twice each year, State Highway 77just north of Snowflake is closed totraffic for a short time to allow thesheep to cross on their way south forthe winter or north for the summer.

Improved irrigation, breeding, andalfalfa fields, however, proved nomatch for repeated drought,

overgrazed and overstocked ranges,and inconsistent beef markets. Whilesmaller operations faced these samechallenges, they had at least oneadvantage over the larger operations—smaller overhead costs. The A-1 Ranchfolded in 1899. Much of its acreage wasbought by the Babbitt brothers ofFlagstaff who had begun their ownranch with a mere 160 acres just northof Flagstaff in 1886. The HashknifeRanch went out of business two yearslater, and again, most of the land andthe famous brand were bought by theBabbitts. Babbitt Ranches is still a fullyoperating cattle ranch today and thehashknife brand is currently used ontheir award-winning quarter horseswhich are offered for public sale everyJuly. Babbitt Ranches’ enduring successwas due to several reasons. First,although they grew quite large, theystarted small and built slowly overtime. They also diversified their incomeby operating a mercantile, lumberyard,and slaughterhouse in town, and evenby raising sheep. The Babbitts’ tactic ofacquiring property slowly over timewas not unique to their operation. Itwas a method many smallerhomesteads throughout the watershedemployed to build their ranches andincome to a reliable level.

Cattle, and especially sheep, ranchingwere major industries throughout thewatershed. Sheep ranching for manyyears was northern Arizona’s largestindustry, involving hundreds offamilies, and it also played a larger rolein northwest New Mexico than didcattle. The creation of the ForestReserves in the late 1890s, whichbecame known as National Forestswith the creation of the Forest Servicein 1905, struck considerable fear andoutright anger into the hearts ofranchers. For a time, a ban of allgrazing on public land was considered.Then the ban was considered only for



Draft: 8 April 2008

sheep. Sheep had long been lookedupon as more damaging to vegetationand land than cattle, although inactuality they can be managed to avoidharmful effects and can even producebeneficial effects such as embeddingseeds into the ground that wouldotherwise be blown away by the wind.Some ranchers, such as the Babbitts,saw the new management rules as anopportunity to further develop thequality and integrity of the ranchingindustry and a safeguard againstovergrazing. Grazing on public lands—and virtually all grazing in the West isdone in part on public lands—has comewith a set of regulations ever since.

Periodic market rises and declinesaffected both the cattle and sheepindustries, but both remained basicallystrong into the first half of the 20th

century. The development of syntheticfabrics after WWII, however, took ahuge toll on the sheep industry overthe succeeding decades. Adisappearing market, coupled with theSouthwest’s rapid urban growth andcorresponding decrease in grazingland, forced most sheepherders out ofbusiness or into retirement by the1970s. The cattle industry fared slightlybetter, although any rancher today willspeak of the great effort involved injust breaking even. A common jokeabout cattle ranching states that the keyto a successful ranch is a wife whoworks in town.

Modern-day agriculture in the LittleColorado has taken an interesting newturn in recent years. In addition to thehistoric industries of cattle and sheepranching and Native crops andgardens, a number of people havestarted new farms with an innovativefocus. Organic, local, and naturally-produced foods and plants are gainingpopularity with farmers and consumersalike. From goat cheese to lavender to

beef, the Little Colorado’s agriculturalofferings are many and varied. A fewtraditional cattle operations are nowlooking to wind power and otherbusiness enterprises compatible withranching in order to diversify theirsource of income while enabling themto continue the ranching lifestyle theyenjoy.

Lumber

Although not as widespread across thewatershed as ranching, lumber didplay a major role in the economies andlifestyle of communities in forestedplaces. The western and southernborder of the watershed is home to partof the largest continuous PonderosaPine forest on the continent. This forestliterally built other major industries: itprovided ties for the railroad, fruit andvegetable crates for agriculture, andshafts for mining. It employed up to1,000 people during the early 1900s,placing it as the 3rd largest industry inthe state of Arizona, and more than90% of the industry was concentratedin the northern part of the state. Inspecific communities, lumber was thenumber one industry.

The first major call for lumber camewith the advancing railroads. Lumberfrom the Zuni Mountains built thetrack as it passed through Gallup.Railroad orders were responsible forthe development of lumber companiesin the White Mountains and aroundFlagstaff as well. One of Flagstaff’smost influential early families was theRiordans. They made their living withtimber, surviving the intense boom andbust cycle of the industry, and mademany lasting contributions to thedeveloping town.

Denis Matthew Riordan came toFlagstaff as a general manager of the



Draft: 8 April 2008

Ayer Lumber Company, a Chicago-backed firm, in 1884 and his brothersTimothy Allen and Michael Jamesjoined him within two years. In 1887,Denis Matthew bought Ayer andrenamed it the Arizona LumberCompany. In 1893, his brotherspurchased his interests and changedthe name a final time to the ArizonaLumber and Timber Company. DenisMatthew eventually moved fromArizona, but not before he succeeded inseparating Coconino County fromYavapai County in 1891 andestablishing Flagstaff as the countyseat. Timothy and Michael stayed forthe remained of their lives and marriedsisters, who happened to be firstcousins to the Babbitt brothers. TheRiordan brothers built a distinctivedouble mansion—one wing for eachbrother adjoined in the center by abilliard room—with architect CharlesWhittlesey who, one year later, wouldbuild El Tovar lodge in Grand Canyonfor the ATSF railroad. The mansion isnow a State Park. The Riordansengaged in many projects outside theimmediate purview of the lumberindustry that shaped the townconsiderably during its early years.Together with the Babbitts and anotherbusinessman, they established the firstelectric company in Flagstaff.Partnering with ATSF, the Riordansdeveloped a pipeline for water fromthe inner basin of the San FranciscoPeaks. This is still a source of water forFlagstaff to this day. Another waterproject, the damming of Clark Valley,resulted in Lake Mary, the reservoirnamed for Timothy’s eldest daughterthat is a popular fishing and boatinglake today and still used as a reservoirfor the city.

Aside from these development projects,the lumber industry itself shaped theforested communities of the LittleColorado. The logging industry

attracted men from all ethnicbackgrounds, although the mostnumerous were Mexicans or those ofSpanish or Mexican descent. With theUnited States’ entry into WWI, manyAmerican men went to fight and theirplaces in the forest were filled largelywith new Mexican migrants.Department of Labor statistics showthat more than 1,100 workers fromMexico came to northern Arizonabetween June of 1917 and January 1919.In 1924, the Cady Lumber Company ofLouisiana, quickly running out oftimber in its home state, bought theApache Lumber Company in the WhiteMountains and the Flagstaff LumberCompany in Flagstaff and moved atotal of 800 people—mostly blackworkers and their families—to Flagstaffand to McNary, Arizona, located justsouth of the watershed on the WhiteMountain Apache Reservation. Withinsix years, most of the McNary workers,unhappy with the isolation of thecommunity or the drastic climaticchange from southern Louisiana,moved. Some returned to the South,others went to nearby communities inthe White Mountains, but many wentto Flagstaff to work in the lumber millsthere. The lumber industry did notbring Hispanics or blacks to the LittleColorado region for the first time, but itdid significantly increase theirnumbers. The South Beaver School inFlagstaff, a National Register propertythat still serves as an elementaryschool, was built by Works ProjectAdministration (WPA) employees toserve students of Spanish-speakingparents.

The Great Depression hit all industriesmore or less equally hard, but lumberhad already suffered a decade ofchanging markets and prices during the1920s. 1931 production levels were halfof what they were in 1920 and manylumber companies simply closed. Some



Draft: 8 April 2008

went through several cycles of closingand reopening, some were bought byother companies and changed names.Preparations for WWII, such as theconstruction of army barracks anddepots and crates for shippingsupplies, once again increased demandand the post-war housing boom set anew record for pine products in 1947.By this time, though, the days of thefamily owned, local lumber mill weregone. The industry had consolidatedduring the 1930s and early 1940s andindividual mills were run by largecompanies with operations all acrossthe West.

Mining

Although mining for turquoise,hematite, obsidian and preciousminerals has occurred in the regionsince prehistoric eras, both Hispanicand Anglo settlers increased theintensity and range of mining activitiesin the Little Colorado River watershed.Gallup is a city made as much bymining as by the railroad. Officiallynamed for a railroad paymaster andauditor David L. Gallup, the city wasalso known for as time as “CarbonCity” due to the numerous coal minesthat surrounded it. No less than sixtowns, all within a few miles’ radius ofGallup, were active miningcommunities in the early 1900s. Thetowns—Heaton, Mentmore, Navajo,Gamerco, Allison, and Clarkville—allshare the same basic history andsequence of events, only the specificyears and names of the players differ.All of the towns were company towns.The mining company provided simple,frame houses for its employees andusually a company store. There wasoften a post office and a saloon, andsometimes a school, clinic, or sportsfacilities. The town was founded whenthe coal was found, and when the coal

ran out residents usually moved outshortly thereafter. Gamerco and Allisonboth still have a few residents, butHeaton, Mentmore, Navajo, andClarkville are ghost towns. If themining towns themselves were notlasting, the impact of the coal industrywas. Mines attracted workers of allbackgrounds, as did the railroad.Gallup has a long history of a diversepopulation including European, Asian,Hispanic, and Native residents whosefamilies were first attracted by its earlyindustries. Mining and the railroadeach helped the other industry developand, in turn, provided much prosperityto a young and growing Gallup.

Both the Navajo and Hopi Reservationshave a long history with coal mining aswell. The coal mined today is not usedfor trains but for producing electricityin power plants that surround thereservations. Coal provides asubstantial portion of revenue for thetribes and many jobs, but, like in mostplaces, is also fraught with controversy.The Navajo Reservation also has ahistory of uranium mining anduranium is also found in other parts ofthe Little Colorado River Valley and inareas immediately surrounding it.Uranium became an importantresource during WWII for thedevelopment of the atomic bomb andin the decades following for thedevelopment of nuclear weapons andnuclear power.

DISTINCTIVENESS OF THEME

The variable, and not always favorable,climate and soil conditions led to thedevelopment of highly specialized croptypes and farming methods in the LittleColorado River watershed. Thediversity of crops and livestock breedsthat farmers and ranchers introducedand adapted as much as 4,100 years



Draft: 8 April 2008

ago largely survives today, forming therichest set of traditional foodbiodiversity extant in the Americasnorth of the Tropic of Cancer. Thisancient and diverse agricultural recordsuggests that the Little Colorado RiverValley is not only one of the oldestcontinuously cultivated areas in NorthAmerica, but the one with the greatestcontinuity of diverse dry land farms,spring-fed gardens, and irrigatedorchards persisting to the present time.

Spanish-flavored ranching and sheepherding traditions are synonymouswith the American Southwest. TheAmerican cowboy has been both anational icon and international hero forwell over a century, and integratesSpanish, Anglo, Arabian, African, andNative American traditions. Hishistoric persona, based somewhat inreality but also polished with myth,captures everything Americans thinkgood about themselves and theircountry: he is free, he is independent,he is simple yet wise from experience,he is hard working, he is both toughwhen he needs to be and a gentlemanwhen he needs to be, he is a straight-talker, and he lives by a code of honor.Foreign visitors flock by the hundredsof thousands to the Colorado Plateaueach year, merely to catch a glimpse ofthe true West and its “riders of thepurple sage.”

The Little Colorado also has asignificant logging and mining history.The four land-based industries offarming, ranching, logging, andmining, combined with the railroad,was the recipe that fueled thedevelopment of most of the nationfrom the mid-1800s to the early 1900s.The East looked to the West forcontinued economic expansion andsupply of resources, while the Westlooked to the east for markets for itsproducts. The two regions left their

indelible marks on each other. Mostmodern-day communities of the LittleColorado are enduring legacies of thedynamic social and economic forcesthat drove the expanding nation duringthis period.

RELATED RESOURCES LIST

26 Bar Ranch, Eagar: A workingcattle ranch, formerly owned by JohnWayne, that now belongs to the HopiTribe. Operates as a bed andbreakfast and participates in ValleRedondo Days celebration.

Amelia’s Garden, Snowflake: Arestaurant and market that featuresorganic and locally-grown foods.

Babbitt Ranches, Flagstaff: BabbittRanches, first established in 1886,continues to operate on landsurrounding the San Francisco Peaksand near the Grand Canyon and thefamily continues to operate a retailshop (a modern incarnation of theiroriginal mercantile) in their historicstructure in downtown Flagstaff. Inaddition to cattle, the Ranches areknown for breeding award-winningAmerican Quarter Horses, which areoffered at a public auction on theranch every July. Babbitt Ranches hasput large tracts of land intopermanent conservation andcontinues to seek ways to improvethe ecological health of theirrangelands to improve both thequality of their cattle and habitat forwildlife.

Bed and breakfasts, Eastern Agencyof the Navajo Nation: A number offamilies will host overnight guests intraditional hogans. Guests canexperience a small part of Navajoculture, including sheepherding andtraditional meals.



Draft: 8 April 2008

Black Mesa Ranch, Concho: A goatfarm where cheese is made fresh onthe premises. Also offers

cheesemaking workshops andconducts open houses during thesummer.



Draft: 8 April 2008

Blevins House, Holbrook: Stillstanding on Joy Nevin Blvd., theBlevins house was the site of afamous 1887 shootout that was aresult, in part, of the notoriousdisputes and tensions betweencattlemen and sheepherders.Although some cattlemen andsheepherders cooperated, and someindividuals raised both animalseither concurrently or duringdifferent years of their careers, thePleasant Valley Wars of centralArizona are among the most famousexamples of when the two did not getalong. Sherriff Commodore PerryOwens served a warrant for thearrest of Andy Blevins (a.k.a AndyCooper) at the house. Andy had justarrived in town after being involvedin shooting incidents in the PleasantValley Wars to the south. WhenAndy, who already had a reputationfor murder and cattle rustling, triedto evade his arrest, the Sherriff, in anopen and undefended position, shothim in the abdomen. This drew shotsfrom three other men in the house,two of whom Sherriff Owens shotand killed and one of whom hewounded to the point of permanentdisability.

Diablo Trust, eastern CoconinoCounty: This organization is apartnership between two family-owned ranches in Coconino County.They engage a diverse group ofscientists, local government officials,the non-agricultural public, federalagencies, artists, and others to botheducate people about the ranchinglifestyle and its realities and to seekinput and support for continuedrange improvements that serve bothcattle and wildlife.

Eagar Daze, Eagar: Eagar Daze, heldannually in August since 1985,focuses on the logging history of

Eagar and the White Mountains andfeatures timber-related sportingevents and competitions in additionto music, games, and a communitybarbeque. It is one of the fewremaining logging events in theSouthwest.

Farmers’ Markets, Concho, ShowLow, Flagstaff, and Ramah: Farmers’markets in these northern Arizonacommunities provide an opportunityfor consumers to purchase directfrom local and regional growers andfor growers to more directly learnand respond to their consumers’preferences. The town of Ramah andthe Ramah Farmers’ Market werespecifically mentioned in a recentedition of a Frommer’s Travel Guide.

Flagstaff Youth Gardens, Flagstaf:–A program for high school studentsthat teaches a mix of traditional andmodern organic farming methodswith healthy doses of science, Nativeculture, community building, workskill development, and fun.

Hubbell Trading Post NationalHistoric Site, Ganado Chapter: JohnLorenzo Hubbell began trading atthis site in 1878. He and hisdescendents operated the post until itwas sold to the National Park Servicein 1967. Navajos would bring in theirwool and other goods in trade forbasic manufactured items. Ongoingefforts are restoring an adjacent washand reintroducing livestock andgarden crops that were presentduring the time of J. L. Hubbell.

Lyman Lake State Park: Mormonsbuilt the earthen dam that made thelake to support their farmingsettlements. For thousands of yearsbefore that, Native settlementsflourished and farmed along theriver’s edge.



Draft: 8 April 2008

Magdalena Cattle Trail,Springerville, Arizona toMagdalena, New Mexico: The trail,also known as the MagdalenaLivestock Driveway, is thought to bethe last regularly-used cattle trail inthe United States. Local ranchersused the route to drive livestock toMagdalena, which was once one ofthe largest shipping centers west ofChicago.

Mountain Meadow PermacultureFarm, Flagstaff: A family owned andoperated permaculture farm thatproduces a variety of agriculturalproducts, gives tours, and hostsworkshops for those interested insustainable permaculture design andpractices.

Native Movement, Flagstaff: Basedin Flagstaff, this organization worksextensively on the Hopi and Navajoreservations as well. Current projectsinclude school and youth gardensand alternative building workshops.Native Movement’s alternativebuildings make use of the naturalenvironment to achieve heating andcooling efficiency and are designed tocatch and make the most efficient useof rainwater on the property.

Native Seeds/SEARCH, Tucson: Anorganization that maintains a seedbank for crops and wild plantstraditionally used as food, fiber, ordyes in the American Southwest,including the Little Colorado RiverValley. Also has a retail store to sellproducts made from traditional plantvarieties.

Natwani Coalition (NatwaniTu’sawyaqam), Kykotsmovi: Anaffiliation of organizations andinstitutions dedicated to preservingand restoring the local food systemon Hopi.

Page 90

Ramah Lake, Ramah: Built in the1890s by Mormon pioneers, the damfailed twice during the lake’s earlyhistory. The community of Ramah,and the lake, continued to surviveand today the lake is a popularfishing spot.

Red Rock Ranch & Farms, Concho:This 130-acre farm is one of thelargest lavender growing operationsin the Western Hemisphere and thesecond-highest (in terms of altitude)commercial lavender operation in theworld. The farm has more than45,000 plants in the groundrepresenting twelve varieties andmore than 10,000 additional plants inthe greenhouse. Plants are harvestedby hand each year. Their productscan be found in several local storesand the farm hosts several publictours each summer.

Riordan Mansion State Park: Thedouble, jointed home of Timothy andMichael Riordan and their respectivefamilies, the mansion is a testamentto the importance and impact ofFlagstaff’s logging history. Themansion also hosts monthlypresentations covering a wide varietyof topics related to Arizona’s history.

Rodeos: Rodeos, the classic eventshowcasing cowboy skills, take placein numerous Little Colorado cities,towns, and in many chapters of theNavajo Nation. Some of the largerrodeos include the Snowflake Rodeo,Taylor Rodeo, Pine Country ProRodeo, Wrangler Jr. High Rodeo,Wild Thing Championship BullRiding, and the Navajo Nation FairRodeo.

Sweet Corn Festival, Taylor: A fallfestival that celebrates sweet cornand also hosts the Arizona StateBarbeque Championship.



Draft: 8 April 2008

Page 91

PRIMARY REFERENCES

Abruzzi, William S. ???? The Social and Ecological Consequences of Early Cattle Ranching in the

Little Colorado River Basin. Human Ecology 23:75-98.

DeGlane, E.M. 1981 Concho The Enchanted Pearl. Quality Printing Co., Kanab, Utah.

Friederici, Peter and Rose Houk, editors. 2004 A New Plateau: Sustaining the Lands and People of Canyon Country. Renewing

the Countryside Press, Minneapolis, with the Center for SustainableEnvironments of Northern Arizona University and the Museum ofNorthern Arizona, Flagstaff.

Haskett, Bert 1936 History of the Sheep Industry in Arizona. Arizona Historical Review VII(3):3-

50.

Hughes, Stella 1985 (1984) Hashknife Cowboy: Recollections of Mach Hughes. University of Arizona

Press, Tucson.

Legends of America 2008 Legends of New Mexico: McKinley County Ghost Towns. <http://

www.legendsofamerica.com/HC-McKinleyCounty.html>. Accessed 23February 2008.

Mangum, Richard K. 2002a Days Past: Sheep, Part One. Mountain Living Magazine February:76.

2002b Days Past: Sheep, Part Two. Mountain Living Magazine March:68.

2002a Days Past: Sheep, Part Three. Mountain Living Magazine April:68.

2002a Days Past: Sheep, Part Four. Mountain Living Magazine May:68.

2002a Days Past: Sheep, Part Five. Mountain Living Magazine June:68.

Trappings of the American West,Flagstaff: This annual exhibit, hostedat the Museum of Northern Arizona,features original artwork related toranching and the West. Specialprogramming, such as cowboypoetry sessions, also accompanies theshow.

Z Lazy B Guest Ranch, McGaffey: Aguest ranch on land that thegrandparents of the current ownersettled at the turn of the 20th century.

Zuni Youth Agriculture Program,Zuni



Draft: 8 April 2008

Morris, Michele 1993 The Cowboy Life: A Saddlebag Guide for Dudes, Tenderfeet, and Cowpunchers

Everywhere. Simon & Schuster, New York.

Nabhan, Gary Paul 2008 Heritage Farming in the U.S. Southwest. Western Parks Association, Tucson.

Nabhan, Gary Paul (editor) 2001 Safeguarding the Uniqueness of the Colorado Plateau. Center for Sustainable

Environments of Northern Arizona University, with Grand CanyonWildlands Council and Terralingua, Flagstaff.

Nabhan, Gary Paul, and Patty West 2005 Linking Arizona’s Sense of Place to a Sense of Taste. Northern Arizona

University, Flagstaff.

O’Neal, Bill 1989 Cattlemen vs. Sheepherders. Eakin Press, Austin.

Schlegel, Paul 1992 A History of the Cattle Industry in Northern Arizona, 1863-1912.

Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of History, Northern ArizonaUniversity, Flagstaff.

Smead, Robert N. 2004 VocabularioVaquero/Cowboy Talk. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Vance, Robert 1992 Lumber and Sawmill Workers in the Flagstaff Timber Industry: 1917-1947

Migration , Adaptation, and Organization. Unpublished Master’s thesis,Department of History, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.


LCNHA feasibility study cover draft02 - Archaeology...

Documents

Transcript of LCNHA feasibility study cover draft02 - Archaeology...